Walter Schimana

Walter Schimana (12 March 1898-12 September 1948) was a Higher SS and Police Leader in Axis-occupied Greece during World War II.

Biography
Walter Schimana was born on 12 March 1898 in Troppau, Austria-Hungary (present-day Opava, Czech Republic), the son of a newspaper editor. He fought in World War I and worked as a librarian and bank clerk before joining the Nazi Party and SA in Munich, Germany on 7 December 1926, becoming the 49,042nd member of the party. He entered the SS polic, and Schimana would lead the motorized gendarmerie in Anschluss-era Austria in addition to field gendarmerie during World War II. From 1941 to 1943, he commanded SS police in the occupied Soviet Union and briefly led the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, but he was sent to replace Jurgen Stroop as the SS commander in Greece on 18 October 1943. Schimana oversaw the evacuation of Greece from September to October 1944, and he persecuted Jews and fought against partisans. Schimana was captured after the war, and he committed suicide rather than face war crimes charges.